Was It Really Worth It?
by Knockknuckle
Summary: - sorry to everyone who reads this but this fanfic is officially on hiatus -My first fanfic - some swearing - He risked his life to fulfill his promise to her, but she cast him aside for the one he brought back   probs not the best summary
1. Recovery

**I don't own naruto, would I be writing fanfiction if I did?**

speach

_thoughts_

letters/notes etc

**Demon/inner personality speaking**

**_Demon/inner personality thinking_  
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_Was it really worth it? He had put his life on the line to bring him back for her, but didn't receive a single thank you. Even now while he recovered from wounds that would have killed him if it wasn't for the fox, he hadn't been visited once by Sakura. He could be dead for all she new. All her time was devoted to making sure the Uchiha was comfortable and well in his ward._

"Once a fangirl, always a fangirl I guess" Naruto grumbled to himself while observing the many get well cards and bouquets of flowers that he had received from all but one of his close friends, that friend being Sakura of course.

_I guess hoping she'd fall for me instead of him when I fulfilled my promise to her was too much, kami why can't I catch a break?_

He had defeated many enemies, saved the village more than once, mastered sage mode and became one of the most powerful shinobi of his generation, yet he couldn't win the heart of the girl he had loved since his academy days. Naruto was now 19 years old, and had been urged more than once to give up on Sakura and start dating like normal people, mainly by Kiba, who had stated quite plainly, "Dude, you're the village hero… just about every chick wants to do you, why hang on Sakura when its never gonna happen?"

Naruto was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a small tapping on his door which soon opened to reveal none other then some of his closest friends from his genin days consisting of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka.

"Troublesome as always Naruto, I'm pretty sure this room is reserved especially for you since your in here every fortnight" the lazy Nara said with a slight smirk on his face, causing a light chuckle from said blonde, which quickly turned into a grimace of pain when his lungs felt like they caught fire. This reminded him just how bad his injuries where, but it's to be expected with Sasuke's powerful lightning techniques. This didn't go unnoticed by his three guests, but Ino was the one to take initiative and get him a glass of water from the sink across the room.

They chatted for a while longer, Ino not really participating as she was in shock from how heavily bandaged he was. The number one hyperactive ninja looked truly fragile because of the bandages covering him from head to foot and the brace that supported his damaged shoulder. _How could this happen to Naruto? He was always so strong and never got held down for long, but for once he looks truly weak. It doesn't feel right to have to strain to hear his usually loud voice that has been reduced to a mere croak. Every movement, no matter how miniscule it is seems to knock the shit out of him. It's taken him 5 minutes just to sit up straight. How could someone so strong be reduced to this? What has Sasuke become?_

"So how are you? its been pretty quiet lately without you" Choji asked while munching on a bag of chips as usual but before he could answer, Choji continued "I bet Sakura's pretty happy that you got Sasuke back, but I haven't seen her around, I still remember that disaster of a mission to get him back the first time and the promise you made… where is she?"

"She hasn't even visited me yet. Not even a thank you. The least she could do is send a damn card, I lost over 5 years of my life trying to get Sasuke back for her, and when I succeed I'm tossed aside because I have no further use to her.

"Naruto calm down, I'm sure she's busy that's all, when she has time she's bound to find her way here" Ino reassured him, but to no avail.

"No. I saw what happened before I passed out at the gate, after the chuunin guards called for her and Tsunade, she went straight to Sasuke without even looking at me, it was like I was invisible to her and Sasuke was the only thing there.

**(Flash Back)**

It had been a fairly warm day, but ominous rain clouds seem to foretell that there would be coming events that marred the nice weather.

Said event was approaching slowly in the form of a blonde shinobi carrying a raven haired man on his back. The blonde looked awfully familiar until one of them saw his torn battle cloak blow in the wind. The cloak was a very distinctive one; a few smaller villages even had standing orders to its ninja to flee if this particular cloak is seen on the battlefield. This cloak meant that you are about to fight both a toad sage and the son of the legendary Yondaime Hokage. The entire cloak was red except for the hem at the bottom, that bit had black flames.

"Hey is that…?" one of the chuunin on guard began before being cut off by his partner

"It is, I'll go tell Lady Hokage while you stop them from going any further, Naruto looks dead on his feet, and that wouldn't be helped by having to carry the unconscious Uchiha on his back for who knows how long" and with that the chuunin took of at full speed jumping across rooftops at an amazing rate. Minutes later the Godaime Hokage appeared via Shunshin, followed closely by her ANBU guard and her pink haired apprentice.

"SASUKE!" Sakura screamed while running to the body of said Uchiha, who had been put down before Naruto collapsed from his injuries. "What did Naruto do to him, why is he like this? How could he hurt Sasuke-kun like this?" Sakura was crying out,

Immediately reverting back into a fangirl at the site of her beloved Sasuke, but Tsunade was far to busy checking on her favourite knucklehead ninja to reply.

"He has severe internal bleeding, 3 broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, multiple stab and slashing wounds and a fractured skull" Tsunade said grimly, while drowning out Sakura's pleading her to help Sasuke. "They both need to get to the Hospital now, the Uchiha should be fine in the intensive care unit (ICU) but Naruto needs to be in surgery ASAP.

Quite a commotion was made on the way to Konoha's hospital, many ninja and civilians shocked to see the limp body of there pillar of strength being carried through the city as it was far to dangerous the Shunshin while in his condition. To the villagers of Konoha, ninja and civilian alike, it looked bad. Naruto had come to be Konoha's hero by fighting of the Shukaku as a genin and defeating the self proclaimed ninja god Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki against unimaginable odds. He had earned the trust and respect of the village as there savior and seeing him so weak and helpless sent shock waves to the very outskirts of Konohagakure.

Naruto had been fading in and out of consciousness due to the kyuubi's continued efforts to restore his chakra and heal his wounds. The demon was making slow progress due to the extensive damage to his internal organs, anyone else would have been dead long ago, but Naruto's sheer willpower had driven him to live long enough to make it to the village. Now his fate was entrusted to one of the legendary sannin and one of the few people he felt he could call family, the godaime hokage, Tsunade.

**(End Flashback)**

The room was silent for a few minutes before Ino spoke up.

"I think we should go, I have some things I want to discuss with forehead, just to get the story straight. Besides I'm sure that Naruto is sick of us by now" she said with a warm smile directed at Naruto which caused something to stir inside of him, it was a strange feeling that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Happiness perhaps, he had forgotten what that felt like.

He watched them leave with a genuine smile on his face, he wasn't sure why he felt happy like he did, but he wasn't going to question it. Kami it had been so long since he smiled for real.

**(3 Days Later)**

Naruto was not a patient man and it showed with his constant fidgeting in his bed. He just couldn't seem to get comfortable because no matter how he slept, he would wake up sore. _Let's see, if I can find the strength to get up then I should be able to slip out of the hospital without being seen. All I need to do is pull rank as a sage and they have to let me go. Yeah that's a great idea now just to get up._ Naruto's little scheme came to an abrupt holt when Tsunade barged her way into his little room and started making demands. "Strip!"

"W-what?" Naruto stammered, going beetroot red, "why?" he said this time with more conviction. "I said to strip brat, I need to run a full physical on you now, and then again on your discharge" she said while unleashing a small wave of killer intent.

"B-but granny, cant we just skip the stripping part and say I'm getting better, we both know the fox is taking care of it" Naruto said, quite certain that his clever comment had saved him, but alas I did not.

**(About an hour later)**

"That wasn't so bad now, was it brat?" Tsunade asked while eating a small sandwich from the hospital cafeteria. "I guess not, but I kinda hoped you let me go today or tomorrow" he replied, disappointment evident in his voice. "C'mon Naruto we already discussed this, I'm not going to let you go for at least another week, even then your not going on missions for another month".

Naruto just stared blankly at the hokage, _this is a joke right? She can't take me off mission rotation for a whole month; I'll go crazy from boredom. _

"That's a joke right? You wouldn't do that to me granny" he said with a hint of panic in his voice. "I'm sorry Naruto, but it's for the best" she said, realising how much she would need him in the coming month, Konoha had been receiving mission requests left, right and center, the majority of them requesting Naruto be assigned to them, but taking him off active duty so he could recover was the best thing for him.

"Aww, please granny, what if I just do the easy ones?" he begged, attempting to use his puppy dog eyes. How could Tsunade refuse that face? "Fine brat, but you'll only be doing things like guarding the village gate" she said after giving in, and instantly she saw his face light up. "Maybe a ninja will try to get through, then I can kick his ass" he said excitedly while ignoring Tsunade mumbling about how she doubted it. "You never did grow up did you?" she said while he continued to daydream about absolutely destroying some ninja in a fight, which to be honest, is what will happen to most ninja if they fight Naruto. There was even a rumour that Naruto had beaten an enemy ninja in less that 5 seconds, but Naruto admitted that that was exaggerated, not that he complained because it was doing wonders for his reputation in other villages.

**(4 days later)**

It had been a few days since his physical exam and lunch with Tsunade, so Naruto was officially bored. He even summoned a few toads to talk to, but got the sense beaten into him by Tsunade because his chakra coils hadn't fully repaired yet, not that beating him was doing his injuries any good either. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the door open to reveal the very person he had just been thinking about.

"Hey brat, guess what I'm going to let you go later this afternoon on the condition that you live like a civilian for a week, that means no training, to chakra use, no rooftop jumping and so on" she said, expecting him to blow up when it sunk in, and blow up he did. After a good 10 minutes of listening to his rants, Tsunade bonked him on the head. "Shut up, would you rather stay here then?" she said trying to contain her anger, "No granny, when can I leave?" he said also trying to contain his anger. "In a few hours, I'll send somebody to help you if you want" she offered. "No that's ok, I'll get home alright, and with that Tsunade went to sign his discharge papers for later that afternoon.

Later that afternoon, Naruto was nothing short of ecstatic. He had been cooped up in that hospital for far too long and it felt good to stretch his legs while the sun was on his face. He still had a noticeable limp, but other than that he felt fine. Then it hit him, he couldn't go missions for a month.

Being the last Namikaze did have its benefits after all, inheriting his fathers house and all of his clans funds while having a big say in village affairs, just to name a few. When he got to the mansion he called home, a smile instantly appeared on his face, oh how he loved his house. Once inside, he took a seat on his couch and went over his draft for the next icha icha book, having taken over writing the series after Jiraiya's death but he replaced the smut with proper romance, though he did still have sex in the book, just not as much. After all, being the apprentice of a self proclaimed super pervert was bound to affect him somewhat.

Naruto had made sure that all royalties from the book was given to the hokage to spend on what she saw fit, Naruto had too much money anyway. After reading and re-reading the draft, he decided it was ready he put it down, hoping he didn't forget to send it to his publisher. Again.

Sighing to himself, he got up and headed in the direction of his guest bathroom, it was much closer than the one connected to his room. When he got there he stripped and started the water in the shower, letting it get warm before he stepped under it. The warm water soon went hot making Naruto sigh in appreciation, the water was doing wonders for his sore muscles and washed away the feeling that the hospital always left on him. A good 20 minutes later he exited the shower and went to find some food in his barren fridge, but what he saw next was surprising, he walked into the kitchen to see bags upon bags of groceries waiting to be put away, and a note sitting neatly on top. He picked it up and started to read:

Hey brat,

I decided to drop off some food seeing you have none, don't say I never do anything for you as all the expenses are payed for and yes there is ramen so don't panic.

Tsunade

He started putting away the groceries while daydreaming about inventing a new flavor of ramen that surpassed all others, until he heard a knock at his door. When he opened it he saw the last person he had expected, before him stood Ino Yamanaka, who never visited him unless she was with Shikamaru or Choji.

"Hey Ino, what's up?" he asked, still slightly shocked. "Nothing much, I was in the neighborhood and thought I drop in and see if you wanted to come to a little gathering I'm organizing. It'll just be close friends for a late lunch and pool party, so you in?" she asked, though she already new he'd come, Naruto never this kind of thing. "Sure thing Ino, sounds fun, when is it?" "At my place this Saturday, make sure you bring something to dry off with and so on, it's a pool party after all" she said while smiling, drawing a small chuckle from Naruto "Don't worry, I wont forget" he called out as she left.

**(Same time, Hokage Tower)**

"I would like to name Naruto Namikaze as my successor for hokage, he has proved to be a strong leader with the ability to improve morale in almost any situation, as well as being one of, if not the strongest shinobi of his generation, he may even rival his father Minato Namikaze in strength. He has done so much for this village, and in turn has earned the respect of both the ninja and civilians not only our village, but in other lands as well" Tsunade said with conviction, not at all intimidated by the fact that she was speaking to the fire daimyo himself. "Hmm, I do agree with you, he is very strong and in my opinion has surpassed his father, but are you sure that he is ready for such a responsibility at his age? He is still in his teens after all." The daimyo replied but before Tsunade could reply, he continued. "I would like very much for him to be named as your successor and you are welcome to do so at any time, but I request that you train him in the art of leading a village before handing over the reigns, I suggest

you have him represent you at social events and accompany you whenever you have diplomatic matters to attend to. When you think he is ready for full leadership, then you can step down and name him the new hokage, does that sound fair?" he asked, "Yes, I was actually going to suggest something similar, I will show him the ropes until I think he is ready." Tsunade replied, happy she was soon to be rid of the tedious paper work, and that Naruto would realise his dream.

"I'll have him summoned tomorrow, will you be available?" she asked "Of course, it's tradition for the daimyo to be present when a successor is name anyway, is it not?" he asked with a rare smile, "Oh of course, how could I have forgotten" she replied.

**(2 hours later, Shikamaru's house)**

"GODAMNIT I SWEAR YOUR CHEATING" Naruto shouted after losing his fifth straight game of shogi against Shikamaru. "Or you're just bad at shogi" Shikamaru suggested, "Temari, come and see if he's cheating, he'd never lie to you" Naruto called out, and after a few moments, Temari came out from the kitchen wearing an apron, "now now Naruto, I'm trying to prepare dinner, Shika are you cheating or not?", "No honey, Naruto just needs to practice is all, it actually took me more than 10 moves to beat him this time" he said while smirking at said blonde, This comment drew a giggle from Temari before she said, "wow, you really do suck, maybe you two should find a game that's more even between you" she suggested, knowing they wouldn't. "Not until I beat Shika at shogi, and mark my words, I will" he said playfully. "So will you be staying for dinner?" Shikamaru asked "Nahh I'm ok, I haven't had a chance to go to ichiraku's yet, so I think I'll head over there after one more game" he replied while resetting the board.

After leaving Shikamaru's house, Naruto made a beeline for ichiraku's, but was intercepted by an ANBU he immediately recognised as Neji Hyuuga. "Lord Namikaze, it has been requested by the hokage that you meet her in the hokage's office at 10 am tomorrow morning, I don't know the details so don't even bother asking Naruto" he said. "Ok Neji, your one of my best friends, I don't expect you to call me 'Lord Namikaze' even while your on duty, it doesn't feel write, but thanks for the message, hey wanna get some ramen?" he asked, "Hn, sure I'll meet you ichiraku's, my shift finished in 20 minutes" he said while leaving to continue is shift.

Once Naruto got to his favourite stand, he was greeted warmly by Teuchi and his daughter Ayame "hey old man, hey Ayame-chan, how you guys been?" he questioned while ordering miso ramen. After a few minutes of small talk Neji appeared and ordered the same as Naruto. "I Sasuke did quite a number on you in your last fight; I apologize for not visiting, but being an ANBU captain gives me little free time, which I try to spend with TenTen" he explained while hoping he hadn't hurt his friends feelings, "heh, I don't blame you Neji, I would've done the same thing" he said while smiling at his long time friend. "So how are your endeavours of winning Sakura's heart coming along" he said cheekily, knowing that Sakura was yet to accept his offers of a date, but the pain that flashed across the blondes face before being hidden by a goofy smile told the Hyuuga prodigy that something had happened. "What happened between you two?" he asked, "and don't say 'nothing' because I am an expert of reading body language, and I saw how you reacted when I said her name before. "Well what happened is…"

**(30 mins later)**

After an in depth discussion with Neji, Naruto felt a lot better about what had happened, he understood that Sakura had loved Sasuke for her entire childhood, so it was only natural that she would pick him over Naruto, but that didn't mean that Naruto wasn't hurt. His chest would pang whenever he though about the two people that along with himself and Kakashi, completed team 7.

_Heh maybe I'll meet a nice girl at Ino's party on Saturday, Kiba might be able to hook me up with one, he's become a bit of a ladies man while I was gone if the rumours are true_. Naruto laughed to himself at that thought, Kiba had always been a good friend, even while in the academy they had pulled dozens of pranks together.

_I wonder why granny wants to see me tomorrow, hopefully she'll give me a mission, after all I've been feeling fine lately, im not even waking up sore anymore, looks like your doing your job kyuubi, keep it up._

"**Heh, I'm yet to receive a thank you kit, after all the things I do for you" **the kyuubi reminded him, after agreeing to enter a partnership with Naruto, they found that they could communicate with each other through Naruto's thoughts, though Naruto could block him out any time, he usually kept it open.

"_Yeah yeah, thanks, happy?"_

"**Yes, say why are you passing our house?"**

"_Hn? Crap, thanks for distracting me fox" _he though playfully, knowing it would annoy the beast to no end, **"What was that brat? It's not my fault you zone out whenever where in contact, you really should work on that" **the demon replied a hint of annoyance, much to Naruto's pleasure.

"_Sure whatever, anyway I need to go to sleep when we get inside, I gotta be up early tomorrow, night" _

"**Night brat"**

**A/N - Ok this is my first fanfiction so I'd like to know how i went, please review so i can improve and fix any mistakes  
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	2. Life goes on

**I don't own Naruto, if I did, Jiraiya would have survived**

**Thanks for the updates and constructive criticism, to be honest I thought it would be a total failure but I guess it can't be that bad, I'll try to use all your suggestions to improve the story. I also realise that I may have made the kyuubi a bit to kind which was pointed out in a review so I hope to fix that soon, but I'll stop bugging you now so you can start reading.**

Naruto was lying wide awake in his bed, having suffered through another night of barley any sleep, and to top it off, a loud annoying beeping had started next to his head. The source was immediately silenced by naruto's fist, thus destroying what used to be a perfectly good alarm clock.

_So much for having an early night, damn I still can't sleep, I'm starting to think that Sasuke's Tsukuyomi is having a lasting effect on my mind, I'll need to speak to granny about this, but I suppose I should get up. _

After a quick breakfast he made his way to the hokage tower, _can't hurt to be early, even if it is by an hour, I've got nothing else to do until later anyway maybe she'll see me early._

After a relatively quick walk, he arrived at the tower that he someday hoped to run, little did he know that his dream was closing in and would soon be within his grasp. He slowly made his way into the tower, bumping into the very person he was there to see. Tsunade, to put it plainly, look like shit. She had bags under her eyes, her hair was a mess and she would snap at anyone who dared speak to her. She was not a morning person.

"Umm, hey granny is this a bad time?" Naruto asked, half expecting to be punched through a wall like he so often was, but to his surprise it didn't happen.

"Walk with me brat" Tsunade said, not having the energy to harm the knucklehead, "I thought I said to come at ten"

"Yeah, I sort of need to talk to you about that, I've been having trouble sleeping, I have a suspicion that it might a reaction from a seal I created to dispel genjutsu and sasuke's Tsukuyomi mixing and messing up something in my head. I'm no where near Ero-Sennin's skill in seals so I might have made a mistake" Naruto replied while voicing his theories

"I'm not sure about that one, I'll check on it later this afternoon if you like" She offered only to see the blonde shaking his head

"Sorry, I have something on for this afternoon, we'll have to do it another time" he said while entering the hokage's office. "So how come you called me in, gonna give me some kick ass mission like usual?" he asked while using the nice guy pose he got from Lee, which had been clearly been banned in her office. Oh how badly Tsunade wanted to punch him through the wall, but it had just been fixed…

"No, that's not it" she said with a smirk, catching his attention

"Granny, we agreed that I would never receive a mission under B ranking, I swear if you make me catch that damn cat Tora…" he trailed off after he noticed the vein throbbing in her forehead. Right… not a morning person.

"If you'll shut up I'll explain why you're here, as soon as our guest arrives" she said ending all discussion by calling Shizune to get her some coffee.

20 minutes had passed and they where still waiting on there guest, Naruto being oblivious of who it was starting throwing insults in the general direction he thought he/she would be, not noticing the door open and a man slide in silently to take a seat next to him.

He was about halfway through a rather colour full insult when he heard the hokage clear her throat and stare ate him, flicking her eyes to his left, telling him to look. Naruto obliged and stared into the eyes of the fire daimyo

_Oh shit_

He started to stutter out an apology about not realising how important there guest was until the daimyo waved it off with a gentle smile, he had always had a soft spot for Naruto, being Minato's son and all.

"Its fine, its fine, I remember your father doing a similar thing, though with less vulgar words I must say. I see a lot of Jiraiya in you, you know. It's sad but makes me happy at the same time to know that both men's legacies are being carried on by someone with your stature.

Naruto muttered out a barely audible 'thank you' while looking away to hide the emotions that those words had stirred. It didn't look very good for a ninja to go all teary eyed in front of somebody of such importance. So when he gained his composure he looked at Tsunade, who immediately began the meeting.

"Naruto, you have been called here to be offered a great honour, the fire daimyo is here to offer his congratulations, support and approval of my offer. I Tsunade of the Sannin and godaime hokage, would like to offer you, Naruto Namikaze known as both the toad sage and the son of a legend, the honour of being my successor to hokage when I stand down. Do you accept?"

Naruto just stared. Was she serious? Or was it a cruel joke? No, granny wouldn't do that to him, and the fire daimyo Is here, so it must be legit. He didn't know how to react, was he supposed to look happy, or was he meant to keep a cool head and act casual? He didn't know, hell he didn't even expect to be offered the job until he was old, since both the hokage's he had known where in there later years. Naruto finally decided with the level tone, though he struggled to keep it even.

"Yes, I Naruto Namikaze, will accept the responsibilities of being your successor, and when the time comes, full responsibilities of protecting the village and it's people. I am willing to lay down my life for Konoha and will do so without a second thought" he said, impressing both people.

_He pulled that out of his ass that had to be his most professional response while under scrutiny ever, I'm impressed, _Tsunade thought smugly, _maybe I wont have to wait too long to retire after all, he really only needs to improve in the area of diplomacy. Hell, he might even be too strong for his own good; he's already getting full of himself._

He was happily lost in thought, imagining how he could rub his new status in all of his friends faces, until the hokage had to clear her throat again, "I know your happy about this Naruto, but concentrate a little longer and then you can go, I will need you represent me at a local wedding to give the hokage's blessing, I'll have you marked down as my successor on your id, so basically, flash around that piece of paper and you can open many doors", she said with a smirk on her face, before realising that they where still in company with royalty.

"But I trust you not to abuse your new power and to only use it when need, I know you're not the kind of person to pull rank on people, but I need to tell you that just in case. An official statement will be made to the public in a few days, until then only tell your close friends. Now get out, I need to iron out some of the minor details with Daimyo Sama" she said while smiling happily at her favourite blonde.

Before Naruto exited the room, he turned around and mouthed 'nice save' to Tsunade while giving her the thumbs up, then rushed out to make an exciting entrance to Ino's party, but first he would go meet up with Shikamaru and play a few games of shogi.

**(Later that afternoon, Ino's Pool Party)**

"Trust Naruto to be late, it's always him and Shikamaru, I swear they meet up, wait till there an hour late, then time their entrances so it looks like they came at different times" Ino said, rather angrily (both Naruto and Shikamaru sneezed simultaneously), "why do I even invite them?, she asked herself, while looking at the food that was now going cold. She continued her venting until she noticed an expressionless Uchiha entering through the side gate.

"Who invited him?" She asked, confused that he would even turn up, but what she saw next hit her like a ton of bricks. Sakura ran up and hugged him, and from the little knowledge she had of lip reading, was sure that sakura had said:

'Thanks for coming, but what will you do if Naruto turns up?'

Ino turned around before she could see any more. Sakura had invited a traitor to her party, and being the last of such an important clan meant that the civilian council had kissed his ass and forgotten all of his crimes. She felt her blood start to boil, how could she have been so blind as to worship him in her genin days.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a familiar voice mumble something about troublesome blondes, but her attention was quickly drawn to the noisy entrance that Naruto had committed himself to, only to have it blow up in his face, he attempted to jump the gate while shouting that he was there, only to get his foot caught and end up face planting into the ground.

"Trust Naruto to make sure we get a good laugh" Kiba called out "how's your face?"

The only reply he got was a groan from the last Namikaze, just laying there for a while until he decided to get up. He was sporting a red mark covering the whole left side of his face, which only caused the group to laugh louder at there blonde friends expense.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but just imagine how dull your lives would be if I wasn't around" he said with a smirk knowing that he had them.

"He has a point" Ino admitted, smiling at him, "but half the time I think he does it on purpose for the attention"

This caused a miniature war of words to start between the two blondes, until they noticed that others where starting to get in the pool.

"Ahh, about time" he said beginning to pull of his shirt until he noticed a certain raven haired Uchiha. They seemed to look at each other at the same time because they locked eyes making the tension around them grow to amazing levels. Everyone seemed to feel the change in atmosphere because they all turned and saw the last of the Namikaze staring down the last Uchiha. The murderous looks they where giving each other meant that they both intended on ending each others clan right now.

To naruto's credit, he wasn't as dopey as he made himself out to be, that was a mask he used for these kinda of confrontations. Sasuke had just seen him make a fool of himself, which means he would relax and assume that Naruto was not prepared for a fight.

Sasuke always had his Sharingan handy, which was lucky for him, but he seemed to forget naruto's sage mode. He was getting overconfident, which he showed my smirking at him. "Do you really want to end up in the hospital again dobe?" he asked, completely sure of himself

His sharingan had activated unconsciously due to the killer glares he had been giving out. This prompted Naruto to dip into the kyuubi's chakra, making his eyes turn crimson, his whisker marks to deepen, his teeth to sharpen and his nails to lengthen.

The realisation hit him hard, Sasuke saw how Naruto's eyes changed, and instantly new he was screwed.

"Hn, I'm not going to waste my time" he said mockingly before walking away, but the Uchiha new he would not have stood a chance fighting Naruto when he was in that state in such a confined area, he would get slaughtered.

Sakura soon chased after him and the party resumed as if nothing had happened, well except for Kiba constantly making remarks like

'Did you see the Uchiha run with his tail between his legs'

"I think he actually shat himself when he saw naruto's eyes"

And "whata pussy, wasn't even man enough to fill his own threats"

Naruto was having a good time speaking to Choji at the food table until he got nudged by Kiba

"Take a look at that" he said with a sly smile

"What are you tal… Oh My God" Naruto said while vaguely noticing the sausage roll he had dropped and the glare Choji gave him for wasting food.

"Is it even possible to be that hot?" he asked, only to have Kiba wiggle his eyebrows suggestively and continue staring. Both men where enjoying the view of Ino getting out of the pool, wearing a purple bikini (surprise surprise) and sitting down on a deck chair next to TenTen, who was also in a bikini, until a voice came up behind them and said

"You know, I really hate perverts" making both guys pale. It was none other than Tsunade herself, but why was she here? Neither guy had a chance to voice there defences because before they new it, they had be smacked across the yard, through the fence and into the neighbours yard, drawing a few screams of surprise.

Naruto and Kiba got up slowly, nursing the backs of their heads while Tsunade approached them.

"Brat, I got the details of the wedding I want you to attend in my place, and if you want to take a leaf out of my book, I would suggest giving taking somebody with you for company. Weddings tend to take a while, so try not to get drunk and embarrass your self"

Naruto sweat dropped while Kiba looked confused. "Come on granny, that happened like, six months ago"

Tsunade saw the confused look Kiba was sporting so she decided to clue him in. "Naruto went to a small party with me, well more of a social gathering between the clan heads. He got blind drunk, threw up on your mother then started hitting on her as if nothing had happened".

Kiba looked at Naruto in utter shock, "Wow, you're the first guy to survive hitting on my mum, let alone throwing up on her" he said before bursting out laughing and slapping Naruto on the back, "C'mon lets go swim" he said while walking back towards Ino's house.

Naruto did the same while grabbing the piece of paper Tsunade had dropped next to him with the wedding details.

'Hmm, it's on Tuesday, I'm really not looking forward to it, maybe Kiba can come, he'll help me have a good laugh" he said to himself before rejoining the group at the pool, forgetting the broken fence and stunned neighbours.

**(3 hours later)**

"See ya Ino, thanks for the invite I had fun" Naruto said while waving to his friend, he shunshined directly onto his apartment and started his search for food.

"Aah ramen, what would I do without you?" he asked himself while setting it up and waiting the required three minutes. He was about to start eating when he heard a knock on the door.

_Who would that be? _He thought while opening the door, and to his surprise he saw Ino. She was holding his orange beach towel while sporting a pale blue shirt and white ¾ length pants

"You forgot your towel. So I though I'd bring it to you before I forgot" she said brightly, flashing him one of her heart stopping smiles.

_Wow, she has a great smile, how have I never noticed that before? And damn her body looks good._

"Umm, Naruto, you ok? You're staring at me" she said, a little unnerved by his roaming eyes.

"Oh sorry, hey Ino, do you wanna grab something to eat with me? We can even go some place other than ichiraku's" he asked, unsure of what he was doing. _Crap I just asked Ino out, what am I doing? Wow her eyes are beautiful, wait, I just asked out Ino._

"Umm, yeah why not, I am pretty hungry. Where do you want to go?"

"How bout that new place that opened up down the road, Choji said the foods great there" Naruto said, utterly shocked Ino had said yes but managed to hide it.

"I didn't know there was a new place opened up, I'll have to trust you on this one" she said with another one of her perfect smiles, while turning around. She started to walk until she realised she had know idea where they were going. "Guess you'll have to lead the way", (another breath taking smile)

"Here I'll lead the way" Naruto said while grabbing her arm so he could turn her in the right direction. The moment he touched her skin, Naruto's heart missed a beat and he felt like he had butterflies in his stomach, which ended when he let go.

_What was that, it never felt like that whenever I touched Sakura? Her skin was so smooth and soft_

Naruto noticed that the restaurant was in sight, so he led Ino in to it and asked for a table. "Hey, do you have a table for two?" he asked the man who delegated the tables.

"I'm sorry; we don't have any public tables le… Oh I'm sorry Lord Namikaze, I'll escort you to one of our private booths" he said, afraid that he may have offended the famous ninja.

The man led them to a booth in the corner of the restaurant, far away from the tables open for the public. Theses booths were reserved for public figures like clan heads. After they were seated, Naruto and Ino started looking through the menu only to realise just how expensive this place was

"Wow, naruto maybe we should go somewhere else, I don't have enough money on me to pay for the cheapest thing here" Ino said, disappointed that they would have to find someplace else.

"Don't worry about, I'll pay for you as well, I asked you to come along after all" he replied, cringing on the inside when he realised how much this was going to cost him.

Shortly after they ordered there meals, Ino with a small chicken salad and Naruto with sushi, they ate in silence for a while until Naruto broke the ice. "So, how come Sasuke was there?"

"I don't know, I think that Sakura invited him, I don't know what to think of either of them, I mean, Sakura was my best friend but now she's associating her self with a traitor. Sasuke on the other hand, is a criminal yet he wasn't punished. After everything he did, he got off without even a slap on the wrist" she said, sadness evident in her eyes.

Before Naruto could say anything, Neji appeared in his ANBU uniform "Lor.. Naruto, you must come with me at once, I am sorry for interrupting for evening, but it is of the utmost importance"

Naruto groaned before nodding, "sorry Ino, here this should cover the bill, keep whatever change there is for yourself" he said while getting up, "I'll make it up you ok, bye"

With that, both men shunshined away, leaving Ino to finish her meal alone. Sighing, she finished her salad quickly before paying the bill and leaving "I wonder what could be so important to pull Naruto away at this time of night.

**(Same time, hokage's office)**

"Naruto, you have been called on for a mission of the utmost importance, it is time sensitive and must be completed as soon as possible. You and Neji will make up a two man cell; your orders are to assassinate the earth daimyo along with his wife, spare his child if you must, but do so as you see fit. We received a tip off that they are mobilising forces in our direction, which means their defences wont be as strong. You are to leave absolutely no evidence that it was the leaf that did this. If anything comes back on the village, it will be denied and you two will face the consequences alone. This mission has been ordered to cause panic in earth country, thus forcing the enemy ninja to withdraw"

Naruto and Neji looked at each other then nodded at the hokage. "We understand the risks of this mission" they said together with determination.

"Good, Naruto since this is an ANBU mission; you will be required to dress the part, this was specially made for you" she said while handing over an ANBU uniform consisting of the armour, black cloak and fox mask. "I want you to keep those for any further missions in case your help is needed again"

"Now go, I want you out of the village by dawn". With that simple command, both men disappeared to prepare, they were expecting to be gone for at least a month. This mission would take careful planning and observation.

_Granny won't like it if we take too long, but it will take a while just to get there, then we actually have to observe the guard routine and find a way around it, _Naruto thought while appearing in his house via Shunshin. He began packing his backpack with all the necessities, mainly ramen, and then sealed it. away into a scroll. He did this with another three bags, not knowing just how much to pack since they weren't given an idea of how long they would be gone. He then proceeded to empty his secret stash of money kept for this specific purpose, all up he had enough to survive for three months.

_I doubt I'll need all of this, but its better to be safe than sorry, besides now I don't have to worry about being conservative with my food,_ he thought happily, knowing he wouldn't be worrying about running out of food any time soon.

After he was done packing, Naruto got changed into his ANBU outfit, "even though I'm not a real ANBU, I feel so cool right now, it almost makes me want to join for real, but I heard getting that tattoo hurts" he said to himself. After he was done preparing, he noticed that the sun would be rising in half an hour

_The time flew by without me realising, I need to get to the front gate soon, _and with that he flew out of his window and roof jumped his way to his destination, choosing the more public way on the off chance he would be seen by an early rising citizen. He really was a show off.

When he got to the gate, he noticed that Neji was already present, "Ready to go? By the way your name will be fox and mine will be eagle" Neji said, receiving a nod from the hidden face of Naruto.

"Let's get this over with, I hate leaving the village for long periods of time" Naruto said while getting the guards to sign him and Neji out. They left shortly after, determined to get the job done right.

"What will we do about the child? I don't feel right killing an innocent"

"I don't know Fox, we'll just have to see how it plays out"

**A/N – Ok just to clear things up, I have no idea how they go about naming the hokage's successor so I just had to wing it on that one, but hey most of the things in this have just been made up on the spot.**

**Also I'm not very happy with this chapter but I wanted to get something out before I go back to school so this was rushed along. I hadn't planned on finishing it for a couple more days but I realised what the date was and that my free time was coming to an end. I'll try to get chapters published regularly but it'll most likely be either weekly or fortnightly.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it, as rushed as it was.**


	3. Neji's secret

**Ok to start with fight scenes aren't really my thing, so don't be surprised if you dislike this chapter.**

**This whole chapter in particular is weak, I would rather not post it at all but I know people have been waiting patiently so I will post this one now and try to make the next one better to make it up to you.**

**Also my teachers seem to think it would be funny to give me assignments all at the same time so I haven't had much time to write, anyways leave a review if you want.**

**Btw, I sorta lost interest in this story for a while but I finally found the resolve to continue it instead of watching bleach. I am sorry it took this long to get out a new chapter but I have been thinking about leaving it all together.**

**I don't see the point in writing a disclaimer, if I had anything to do with Naruto would I be writing fanfiction? **

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><p>Speech<p>

_Thoughts_

**Demon/inner personality speech**

_**Demon/inner personality thoughts**_

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><p>Both Naruto and Neji had lost track of time, this was very unprofessional, but it still happened. All they new was that they were close to there objective, the earth daimyo had a holiday home not far from where they were and frequented it quite often. If their information was correct, he would be arriving at the home with his family about a day after Naruto and Neji got there, meaning they would be able to set up a proper assassination.<p>

They agreed to strike while the family were sleeping to avoid unnecessary noise and blood. Naruto had decided on using a simple neck break so the kill was clean and quiet, while avoiding waking up the child. He was still unsure how he would go about keeping the kid alive, he really didn't want to kill an innocent, but there was little chance of the young boy surviving.

"I can see the home in the distance", Neji said beside Naruto, drawing his attention to where Neji was pointing,

"Can you sense that chakra? It isn't large enough to be a threat but there is something there", Naruto replied, noticing a feint source of chakra in the distance to the north of the holiday home

"I think the daimyo has arrived early with a few guards, probably only chuunin level, still this will make it difficult if he is ahead of his family" Neji observed, even though Naruto had already come to this conclusion.

"I suppose we'll have to intercept him now in case his family isn't far behind. We need to remove the evidence before they arrive so they are unaware of our presence. I'm sure the ones with his wife and child will be more skilled, he would naturally leave the better ninja with his family" Naruto said, trying to think up a plan.

"Neji, if a make a distraction, can you move in and take out the target?" Naruto asked, deciding this was the best course of action. He saw Neji nod, so he shunshined about ten meters behind where he felt the source of the chakra and quickly his himself in a near by tree. He silently stalked his prey, waiting until he felt Neji's chakra move into position. When he felt Neji stop moving Naruto jumped out in front of the daimyo and his single body guard.

They instantly stopped, the daimyo looking around fearfully

The single guard who was no higher than a chuunin stepped in front of his leader. "Looks like your supply of ninja is really low considering you have someone of such little skill watching out for you" Naruto said, causing the chuunin to move forward

"Oh yeah, what makes you think your better than me? I graduated top of my class as a genin and made chuunin in less than a year", the young man stated, drawing a chuckle from Naruto

This caused the chuunin to charge at Naruto out of rage, causing a smirk to appear on Naruto's hidden face. "Mistake number one" he stated loudly, "Never charge at your opponent out of anger", he said while applying a simple maneuver. He grabbed the chuunins wrist, connected to his raised fist, while sweeping his legs from underneath him. He then proceeded to spin him around in one fluid motion so he could see the man he was meant to be guarding.

"Mistake number two" Naruto said coldly, while maintaining his grip, "You left your man unguarded"

Neji then swooped down on top of the daimyo and twisted his neck violently, breaking it. Naruto forced the young man to watch his daimyo die. He then proceeded to break the neck of the chuunin in his hold

"Come on, we have to clean this up" Naruto said to Neji, receiving a nod from his companion. Naruto was known to become very cold and emotionless while in mission mode, but it still disturbed Neji each time he saw it. It wasn't like the blonde to be so uncaring, but it did make him very efficient.

After cremating the bodies to destroy the evidence, they found a vantage point in the tree's that gave them a clear view of the house, perfect for their mission. They had to wait for a day and a half, but eventually, the daimyo's wife and child came into view.

"We cant wait long, they'll be suspicious as soon as they realise the house is empty" Neji said, worried the plan was about to unravel, "The ninja guarding these two are far superior compared to the one we took down earlier, they are most likely high jonin or rookie ANBU" he finished

"We need a new plan quick; maybe we should jump the guards first, I doubt the targets will get far even with a head start we should be able to chase them down", Naruto suggested, receiving a nod from Neji

"That may be the only way to go about this, I'll take the one on the right, you have the left. Agreed?" he asked

"Agreed", Naruto replied, and with that, they attacked.

It seemed the guards had known of their presence, because they instantly got into a defensive position in front of the woman and child. "State your business" one of them said with a calm, collected voice.

"You both know why we are here, you can make our job much easier if you move, we'll spare your lives in return", Naruto bargained, hoping to avoid unnecessary blood shed

"I'm sorry, but that wont be happening", the other said, and with that the battle began, the Konoha ninja making the first move. Naruto and Neji had learned to sync with each other whenever they fought together, which is why they were paired together on missions so often.

It seemed that their earlier evaluation on the two ninja was greatly mistaken; the two were stronger than Neji, maybe even at Naruto's level. This had to be ended quickly; otherwise they were both in danger.

Naruto was forced to give his opponent his full and undivided attention, Neji was on his own for now. He swiftly dodged a stream of lightning show in his direction, which was not good for him and his wind jutsu.

_Looks like I'll have to use my weaker fire jutsu against him, damn this is harder than I thought it would be. We should have ambushed them instead of acting tough and coming head on._

Naruto was thrown from his thoughts when he felt a blade slice across his shoulder as it sailed past him. He looked up and saw the enemy grinning. He was having fun? Hell no, Naruto had to put him in his place.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" he exclaimed while multiplying into three. In an attempt to confuse the enemy ninja, he ran around and circled him along with his clones, but this was to ill effect, because used a strange jutsu and emitted raw lightning chakra thus destroying both clones and injuring the original.

Naruto was blasted away and hit the ground hard. Very hard.

Neji's fight was a little more even surprisingly, but that was most likely because of his byakugan. Neji was trading blows equally with his opponent but he was secretly blocking of his chakra, he was confident that the fight would be over soon. That is until the opposing ninja got in a lucky hit and kicked Neji square in the face, knocking him aside. He was hit towards his targets luckily enough and used this as an opportunity to complete the mission. As he flew past the family, he threw two shuriken and hit both in the throat, ending the woman's and child's life, much to the disappointment of the leaf ninja, he wanted to avoid killing both, but chances were the younger one new which village they were from now.

It was at this moment that he felt Naruto collide with him, knocking Neji out cold. Naruto new he was out of options, he did not have the luxury of using sage mode, so he would have to resort to using the kyuubi's chakra. Just at the thought of using it, he felt a familiar yet uncomfortable chakra enter his pathways and fuse with his own.

Naruto stood up slowly and took off his slightly cracked mask, revealing his kyuubi influenced eyes to his enemies. They were taken aback at first, but quickly regained there composure and pressed forward. Naruto quickly took out a kunai and threw it at one of the ninja, then charged at the other one.

He blocked an attempted punch at his face then land a kick in the mans ribs, knocking him over. Naruto then drew his attention to the other one, who was attempting to kill a still downed Neji, so Naruto quickly ran and jumped between them, but was too slow to stop the kunai that was meant for Neji. It pierced his skin, which caused Naruto to flinch, giving the ninja an opportunity to continue his assault.

He punched Naruto in the face, and then threw him into the ground. "This has gone on for **too long**", Naruto growled, his voice deepening at the end of his sentence due to the kyuubi's influence strengthening. He slowly stood up and glared at his foe while red chakra started to wrap around him forming a cloak. Naruto let two tails form with the cloak.

_I shouldn't need any more power than this, I'll end it now and get Neji medical attention, he doesn't look too good_

Naruto disappeared with a burst of speed and reappeared behind the enemy ninja, "tell me what your name is" he whispered in the others ear, causing the mans hair to stand on end

"I won't give that information away" he replied, shaking with fear from the sight of Naruto.

"It doesn't matter, I was simply curious, its not like you'll live much longer any way", Naruto said in a cold voice, making the man fear him even more then he felt a smooth, sharp object touch his throat in the general area of his jugular.

"Now you die"

Neji was now in a good position, he new that at least two of his ribs were broken and was suspicious of the pain in his left shoulder. He slowly stood up, still a little unbalanced because he had just regained consciousness, and looked at his opponent who had an expression of utter fear on his face. Neji then looked in the same direction as his enemy and saw Naruto ending the life of the other body guard. Neji took this opportunity to take his enemy by surprise. He activated his byakugan and charged at his target and drew his kunai, he reached the enemy in a few seconds and tried to stab his temple.

The bodyguard dodged at the last second and drew his own kunai; they then proceeded to exchange blows rather quickly but Neji's injuries were a major handicap. Eventually Neji broke through and made a deep cut on the others chest, but that didn't slow the bodyguard down for long; he jumped back and ran through hand signs until Neji felt the earth rumble. He looked around bewildered until a spike made of rock and dirt came up at the Hyuuga, which was narrowly avoided. Neji then proceeded to dodge all of the earth jutsu thrown at him until a basketball sized boulder hit him in the side of his head, knocking him out once again.

Naruto was to slow to help Neji, he had tried to reach him, but was to far to stop the small boulder coming at him from the side

_Why didn't he dodge? He must have seen it coming with his byakugan_

Naruto closed the distance between him and the bodyguard within seconds and stopped him from ending Neji's life; the man was taken by surprise and lost balance. This gave Naruto the split second he needed; he grabbed the man's neck and twisted it. The resounding crack was sickening and would probably make any one not used to death sick.

Naruto then looked at Neji and saw the condition he was in. "Shit, Neji how did you get in this state?" muttered to himself while picking up his friend, he needed to get back soon

* * *

><p><strong>(A few days later)<strong>

Ino had been working in her families flower shop non stop lately; her parents had gone on a second honeymoon and left her in charge of the store.

_This is so boring; I wonder when Naruto is getting back. I had a good time with him the other day maybe I should ask him out on a date_

She pulled out a magazine and began to flick through it for the umpteenth time that day until she heard the door bell ring. "Hello and welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop… Lady Hokage?"

"Ino, we don't have much time, we're low on medics at the moment so I need you at the hospital now, Naruto and Neji just got back, Naruto's fine but Neji doesn't look to hot right now"

"Ok I'll be there soon; I just need to lock up"

Ino did just that and then quickly made her way to the leaf hospital. When she entered she saw Naruto in the waiting room with his head in his hands muttering about how he should have saved him.

"Are you ok Naruto?" Ino asked, worried for her friend. She quickly looked him over searching for some sort of injury, but all she saw were his damaged clothes. He was missing his usual orange and black jacket, so he was left with his orange pants and skin tight black undershirt. Ino blushed when she noticed his toned abs and muscle definition in general.

_He has a pretty good body, look at the muscle on his arms,_ Ino thought drawing a light blush on her face

"Ino we need you in surgery now, hurry up", the hokage said while appearing from around the corner, a concerned look on her face.

Ino simply nodded and followed Tsunade, soon after she was in the surgery room overlooking Neji's damaged body. "How did they get past his byakugan?"

"Ino, I don't think neji has told anyone yet, but you will find out during surgery anyway. Neji is slowly losing his sight and has already informed me that he will be retiring as a ninja in the next month" Tsunade informed her, a grim look on her face

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><p><em>I wonder what happened; it was like he didn't even see it coming, but how? I thought there was only one blind spot in the byakugan and where Neji was hit is no were near it, <em>Naruto thought, trying to put the pieces together, _maybe he was distracted—_

Naruto was pulled from his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming towards him. He turned his head in the direction of the sound and saw TenTen walking towards him at a fast pace

"Is he ok? What happened? How did it happen? Were you hurt too?" She asked, hurling question after question at Naruto without waiting for an answer to any of them

"Calm down TenTen, I'm fine but I dot know about neji, I havnt seen him since they took him into surgery"

"Oh god he needs surgery, how could this have happened?" she asked, obviously distressed by this new piece of information

"Calm down, I'm sure he's fine, stop stressing TenTen. Neji is as strong as me and we've both been left in worse condition than this before, he'll pull through"

Hours passed until finally Tsunade came out to deliver the news

"Good to see you got my message TenTen, Neji's condition has been stabilized but he slipped into a coma while we were operating. I'm sure he will wake up soon, it doesn't seem to dangerous to his health at the moment"

With that TenTen burst into tears. "I wanted him to be the first to know, I wanted to tell him as soon as he got back. I'm pregnant and I cant tell him"

Naruto just stared in shock, and then looked to Tsunade for conformation. When he saw her nod he looked back at TenTen

_For real? I didn't think Neji was the kind of guy to knock someone up till he was married. Wow, I feel really bad that I found out before he did_

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><p>Naruto walked back to his house with a million thoughts running through his head. When he finally arrived at his house, he sighed knowing he would have yet another sleepless night, but still, at least this time he had some things to think about.<p>

"Neji's gonna be a father, its strange I never imagined him having kids", he mumbled to himself

Naruto slowly made his way to bed, ignoring his stomach rumbling and his slight stench.

"Tomorrow will be interesting"

**Ok I'm going to leave it there because I'm lazy and cant be bothered. Leave a review if you want, it might motivate me to get the next chapter out sooner.**

**I will apologize again for this chapter, it was really just to get a couple of ideas out there and see how you would react to them (neji going blind and tenten pregnant) and so you know i haven't completely abandoned this story  
><strong>


	4. Moving On

**Thanks for all the encouraging reviews; this chapter was a little hard to write because I have had a lot of things going on lately, I'm reeeaaally sorry for leaving it this long but I've had to deal with some stuff. **

**I rushed this chapter sooo much, I actually wrote it in a few hours instead of doing it bit by bit.**

**Oh I'm not done thanking yet. Thanks to everybody who read this and waited patiently, my hits went over 3000 for the first 3 chapters which I'm pretty happy about.**

Speech

_Thoughts_

**Demon/inner personality speech**

_**Demon/inner personality thoughts**_

Naruto was roused from his light sleep by his battered alarm clock; it just didn't seem to break. Groaning, he slowly sat and looked at his surroundings, he was in his room that was littered with scrolls and various ninja tools. It wouldn't be a very safe place if children were around, but considering Naruto barley ever had visitors he never cleaned up. Naruto new it made him seem lazy but he didn't particularly care about how people thought of him.

Naruto began to shuffle towards the bathroom but was stopped when he heard a knock on his door. He changed direction without a second thought, preparing to scream at whoever dared come between him and his morning shower, but when he opened the door all ill thoughts were washed away by the shock of seeing who had visited him.

Standing before him was Ino Yamanaka, which threw Naruto slightly off guard; Ino only ever visited him if she needed a favour. Naruto realised this and instantly became suspicious.

"Hey Ino, what's up?" he asked while wondering why she was staring at him like that.

_Wait, is she checking me out? _He thought, not sure what to do

It was at this moment that Naruto realised he had answered the door in only his orange boxers, and instantly felt uncomfortable while under the scrutiny of Ino's eyes. He looked at her face and noticed a slight blush appear on her face

"Hey do you need something?" He asked still waiting for Ino to respond, this snapped her out of whatever thoughts she was having.

"Actually I need some help at my families store and I was wondering if you could fill in today? I'll pay you of course" she asked

_I new it, she needs a favour_, Naruto thought to himself.

"Fine, I've got nothing else planned today, when do you need me to start" he said while sighing.

"Umm, actually I need you right away" Ino said expecting him to slam the door in her face.

"Ok just let me have a quick shower, come inside while you wait" Naruto said while sighing again, this would be a long day.

Naruto lead Ino into the living room of his home and told her to help herself to anything in the kitchen which was just down the hall, which in Naruto's house is a good 2 or 3 minute walk.

He smirked when he heard a small gasp escape his blonde friend when she looked down the hall that seemed to go on forever. "Your house is so big!" she exclaimed

"Hah, that's only the east wing, there's still the west wing and training grounds out back" he replied proudly, he didn't get to show off about his house very often

Naruto spent the next 10 minutes in the shower, but eventually got out and greeted Ino who was still waiting in the living room. He was wearing a plain white long sleeve shirt with orange shorts.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you without some form of orange on, even your boxers are orange" Ino said while blushing at the memory of a half naked Naruto.

"Heh what can I say, it's my favourite colour" the toad sage replied

They had left for the Yamanaka flower shop almost 15 minutes ago but were walking at a steady pace, not in any real hurry. Ino didn't really need help at the shop, she just wanted to spend some more time with Naruto and this was the only way she could do it since she didn't have the courage to ask him out properly. She would find some work for him somehow though.

Finally they reached the shop and Ino gave Naruto a quick lesson on working the till and customer service. "Remember to act cheery while you serve somebody or they might not come back" she explained

"Yeah, yeah I got it, it can't be that hard" Naruto replied arrogantly and smirking at the face Ino pulled

"Fine if you think it's so easy, you can serve the first customer of the day" Ino said wickedly, she was sure he hadn't been listening when she taught him which flower was which

When the first customer arrived, Naruto quickly stood up from his seat and manned the till while Ino stayed seated beside him.

"Hey… umm… Welcome to the store" he said unsure of the greeting he was meant to use, Naruto had zoned out at that part of the lesson

"Oh hello Naruto, I see you're helping out the pretty miss. Yamanaka his morning" a random villager said

"Uhh yeah" he replied, most of the village had started speaking to him as if they went way back and Naruto was never sure of how to act because he had no idea who they were.

After scrambling around and spending a few minutes fighting with the till because he forgot how to open it, Naruto eventually made his first sale but not after glaring at Ino every time he heard her giggling at his incompetence.

The villager had left with a smile and at one point had assumed the two ninja were an item because of the way they interacted. After denying it profusely the villager finally left while winking at Ino and whispering that Naruto was 'a keeper', which caused another light blush to appear on her face. How many times had she blushed already?

At the end of the day Ino went to the till to get some money to pay Naruto with, "Don't worry about it, today was fun" Naruto said with a smile.

"I was going to get some ramen, you wanna come, my treat?" he continued

Ino was a little surprised but happy at the same time, "That'd be great" she replied while mirroring his smile

Sakura walked hand in hand with Sasuke, who had his usual 'I hate everything' look on his face. She sighed and wished that he would smile every once in a while. Ever since she had started going out with Sasuke, Naruto had cut all communication with her

_I can't believe that idiot doesn't even visit Sasuke, I thought he was like a brother to Naruto_, Sakura thought

They were on their way to a fancy restaurant that's the Akimichi clan owned, but Sakura paused slightly when she saw an unexpected sight

"Look Sasuke, Ino's at the ramen stand… and she's with Naruto?" She exclaimed

Sasuke only turned his head in the direction she was pointing and raised an eyebrow, then continued walking. Sasuke had never forgiven Naruto for stopping him before he could attack the leaf village, and as if to rub salt into the wounds, he then brought him back to the village he wanted to destroy so badly.

_One day this village will burn, but I need to get stronger before I can beat Naruto and the rest of the ninja of this shit hole_, Sasuke thought, he was still as bat shit crazy as ever, but now he hid it so the village would fall into a false sense of security.

He wanted revenge so badly, and making the village council warm up to him by saying he only did it because of the pressures of being the last of a legendary clan was the first step in his plan. Next he would re-earn the trust of his fellow ninja, but that would be easier said then done.

Ino giggled while Naruto wolfed down his 3rd bowl of ramen. She had never seen anybody eat so fast, and how was he able to cope with the heat? She slowly took another mouth full of her small bowl. She had ordered the same as Naruto because she had no idea of what to get, she wasn't a regular like Naruto. The only differences in there meals was the size and quantity, Ino had ordered one, small bowl while Naruto constantly ordered extra large servings.

The two blondes stayed and talked for a good hour until they finally stood and payed for the ramen.

"You wanna go for a walk?" Naruto asked a slightly bewildered Ino, this was all going so well for her.

She smiled, nodded then fell in step with her friend. After a short walk, Naruto lead her on top of the hokage monument and stood on top of his fathers head.

"This is my favourite place to come when I need to think or be alone" Naruto explained, "I've never actually been up here with anybody"

"Wow, the view is beautiful, you can see the whole village up here" Ino observed "Thanks for showing me this place Naruto"

'Heh its fine, I like to stand in this specific spot because it makes me feel like I'm a little closer to my dad" he said while gesturing to the fourth hokage's head

"Oh right, I almost forgot you're his son, it must be amazing to know your related to the greatest ninja ever produced by the leaf, besides you of course" Ino said with a smile and jabbed Naruto in the ribs

Naruto looked at her and smiled back, "I don't think I'm quite as strong as dad yet, but I'm getting there. I just wish that he was around to see me when I become hokage, mum and pervy sage too".

Ino continued smiling but stayed quiet; Jiraiya had always been a touchy subject with Naruto so she was happy that he was able to talk about it with her so easily. Naruto turned his gaze to the sky and looked at the newly emerging stars; he liked to imagine that his family was watching over him and new he would follow in his fathers foot steps soon enough.

"Ino I haven't told anybody yet, but I think you should be the first to know since you've been there for me after… recent events" Naruto said, "grandma picked me to be her successor, which means I'll really be hokage when she retires"

Ino just stared at Naruto then launched herself at him, causing both people to blush. "I can't believe it Naruto, I'm so proud of you" she said while hugging him

"The 6th hokage, Naruto Namikaze. That has a nice ring to it" She whispered in his ear

Naruto just chuckled and returned the hug, he didn't know why but it felt good, like it was meant to be this way. They both stood there for another few minutes, neither wanting to end the embrace but eventually Naruto sighed and loosened his grip, which prompted Ino to do the same

"It's getting late, I should walk you home before the undesirables come out" Naruto sad sadly. Ino only nodded because she knew he was right, her house was past the bar and drunks were bound to hassle her on the way back if she was alone.

Naruto walked slowly beside Ino up the path to her front door, when they reached it they both stopped.

"Guess this is it for tonight" Naruto stated sounding a little down, Ino only nodded and made a split second decision. She raised herself slightly my standing on her toes and gave Naruto a light peck on the cheek.

"I had a good time, thanks Naruto" she said while pulling out her keys and unlocking her door. She stood in the open doorframe for a few moments and waved. Naruto waited until she was inside before heading in the direction of his own home.

Naruto walked with a spring in his step and before he new it he was home. For the first time since he fought Sasuke, Naruto was able to fall asleep without problems; it was almost like Ino created a barrier and protected him from the after affects of his fight.

Ino stepped out of the shower and breathed a sigh of relief; the hot water did its job like always. Ino slowly made her way to her bedroom and got dressed in tank top and some underwear, then got into bed. For a while she just stared up at her ceiling while thinking about the nights events.

Could she possibly have feelings for Naruto? He had always been the dead last, but now he was in a league of his own, far above anybody else he had attended the academy with, he was at kage level.

Ino remembered when everyone, herself included, had laughed at him whenever he said he would be hokage, they all saw him as the dead last that would die on a mission soon enough, but somehow he had survived all of the challenges thrown at him. He had managed to befriend the untouchable Uchiha, who kept everyone at arms length, and eventually became strong enough to beat the sharingan.

Naruto even beat the self declared 'ninja god' pain, who at the time seemed invincible. Naruto had gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure the village that treated him like the plague was always safe, and soon he would be their leader.

Ino fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Sakura rolled off Sasuke after just giving him her virginity; it hadn't been as painful because the strenuous activities of being a ninja had already dealt with most of that. She looked at her partner expectantly but he had already turned to his side and began to sleep. She sighed and wrapped her arms around him in an attempt to spoon and sighed again into the back of his shoulder.

_Did I make the wrong choice? Could I have been happier if I was with Naruto? He is such a giving person while all Sasuke does is take. Why do I have to love him so much? I don't think I can live without Sasuke, but I'm so unhappy with him._

Sasuke grunted quietly and shrugged Sakura off of him; she looked at him sadly then rolled onto her other side and faced the other way.

Naruto slept soundly and for the first time since he returned to the village, he had a good sleep. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be rested and refreshed.

Naruto went to the kitchen and noticed a note stuck to the fridge. He took it down and read it:

Naruto Namikaze

Your assistance is needed in the hokage tower; please leave as soon as you receive this

Naruto noticed that there was no name identifying who had written it so it was probably by the ANBU. Naruto quickly made a piece of toast and left for the hokage tower like he had been instructed. When he got there he was ushered into Tsunade's office, the owner of this office looked pissed.

"Naruto why did you take so long" Tsunade demanded.

"Sorry I slept in so I didn't get your message till later" he replied.

"Fine, I have an assignment perfect for a hokage in training" She said said with an evil grin on her face

"What's with that face granny, what do I have to do?"

"You, Naruto, will do my paperwork with Shizune's guidance while I go out"

Naruto stared at Tsunade then glanced at the stack of paperwork on her desk, it was still morning but it was already half a meter tall. Tsunade stood up and grinned at Shizune,

"He's all yours, make sure it's done by sundown, there will be more stacks delivered later"

With that the current hokage left the office while smiling happily because she had gotten out of doing paperwork for once.

Naruto had spent the better half of the day doing paperwork and was happy to find out that there as only one more pile to go through. He stiffly stood up and lifted the stack off the ground and placed it on the desk. He almost laughed when he saw what the first document was for; the village council had put in a request for their own private bath house in the upper district of the village. It would be strictly off limits to anybody who wasn't apart of the council.

"Heh, I don't think so" Naruto said with a cruel smile while writing DECLINED in the paper. He worked for the next hour and a half before finally finishing. He stretched, stood up and smiled. Since Tsunade wasn't back yet, Naruto decide to quickly get some take away ramen.

Naruto took longer than he thought he would and when he returned he saw a fuming Tsunade and a scared Shizune.

"Naruto… do you realise that you missed an interview that I purposely scheduled for you to take as a test?"

After a brief argument with Tsunade about the importance of staying in the office until he was sure there is no more work, Naruto finally got home. He was dead tired so didn't even bother to shower and went straight to bed. He ended up falling asleep still fully dressed, and dreaming of a familiar blonde.

**Aaand the long awaited chapter is complete. Again I apologize for taking so long but I had stuff to deal with.**

**Btw could you guys tell me if I use commas (,) too much, I feel like I do.**

**Ok so like always leave a review if you want, I like to see what you guys think of my chapters so I can improve them.**


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